Ascent to Legend
by deliberateOxymoron
Summary: Follyheart is young and dumb. Not at all cut out to be a hero. He can't possibly figure out who killed his mother without screwing things up, right? The rest of WindClan wouldn't put him in charge of anything yet StarClan seems to think he can do that and so much more. But StarClan has been wrong before, so can he really? Or will he fall deep into something wicked?
1. Prologue

**Prologue**

The black tom, speckled with grey, had caught the trail of a mouse. "Perfect," murmured the cat. He followed the mouse's scent until he saw it. He crept up slowly behind it, then, he pounced on it, but it scurried away into a bush. 'Foxdung!" Exclaimed the warrior.

He hated hunting. Ever since he was an apprentice, he was never any good at it. He didn't even know how his peers did it, it seems as if StarClan just never wanted him to be good at hunting. He forgot how he even passed the hunting assessment. His great battle skills must've saved him at that time when he was an apprentice.

Suddenly, the whiff of crowfood crept its way into his nose. _Great StarClan! What is that smell?_ The tom thought. He smelled a lot more than just a mouse, he scented death itself.

His hunting trip has just gotten a lot more interesting. He traced the foul smell and followed it. It got stronger and stronger as he got closer. Perhaps it's a dead bird or a dead mouse? The cat thought. He padded his way up to a bush, where he saw the tip of a tail. Oh, no.

"No, No, NO! Not her!" The cat yelled to himself.

This tail was no ordinary mouse-tail. It was the tail of another cat, and it wasn't just any cat, it was his mate. He quickly observed his mate's body. Her eyes were wide open, frozen in a state of fear. Her mouth hung open in shock, blood pooling around it as if she was desperately trying to breathe in air. She had a fatal wound across her neck, which bled all around her head. He immediately turned around and dashed across the moorland as fast as he could. Shock and despair filled his heart. He stood on WindClan camp, shaking.

His clanmates clearly saw that he was very shaken because they all came up to ask him what was wrong. He began to feel crowded. He opened his mouth, but only a stutter of his mate's name came out.

"Sp...s-splinter...c-c-claw..." He began to feel hot and light-headed. "Jaggedsmile, what about Splinterclaw? Is she alright?" Asked an oak-coloured tom.

"Quiet, Molefur!" Said a calico she-cat. "He's going to come with me to the medicine den. Until further notice, none of you are going to talk to him, let alone ask him any questions."

The she-cat then supported Jaggedsmile to the medicine den, where he was given poppy seeds.

"Eat these," she said. "They will help calm you down."

Jaggedsmile did as he was told, eating about 3 of them.

"That should be enough," The she-cat meowed. "Stay here and rest awhile."

"Thank you, Scarletpelt," Jaggedsmile murmured as the world around him began to fade away.

* * *

Scarletpelt looked around her; everything seemed unreal. She was in the hunting grounds in StarClan. Unexpectedly, a cat padded up to her. "Scarletpelt, I have something to tell you," the voice spoke. Scarletpelt turned her head to meet the face behind that voice. Despite the small stars glittering around this ghostly cat, Scarletpelt recognised her in an instant.

"Oh, Splinterclaw! Mother! Please, how did you die?" Scarletpelt asked in desperation. The fawn she-cat said nothing, a blank expression her face.

"The soul that lives a life of folly will soon come to light and exceed those who pushed the light down to folly. The light won't shine its brightest unless its deception has been uncovered."

Before Scarletpelt could respond, she felt herself falling from the sky. She looked down and realised that she was going to hit the ground, but when she got to the ground, she didn't fall onto it; she fell through it. She fell down, and down until she landed, painlessly.

She lay in a grizzly place, full of hollow darkness and a burgundy sky that was darker than blood. The tried to breathe, but the air was thick with mist. She heard the many whisperings of forces that could only be described as evil. She saw silhouettes of ancient cats known only for their terrible deeds. A shadow came up behind her and violently whispered in her ear.

"Folly will be torn between the light and the dark. The mightiest of sorrows will consume the one whose soul lives in folly. Deception will rise, and guilt, rage and chaos will rid of the light."

Scarletpelt saw a big, muscled tom charge towards her. The tom leapt, pouncing on her. She closed her eyes in fear, embracing whatever could've happened to her...

Nothing happened. She opened her eyes. She was in the medicine den, as usual. She sighed in relief. Then, her mind clouded with memories and questions. Questions like "What did that prophecy mean?" and "Did I just receive a prophecy from the Place of No Stars?" but she had no time for these questions now. Hopefully, StarClan would reveal more soon. For now, however, Scarletpelt remembered that she had a shocked father to check up on.


	2. Chapter 1

Three days ago, Splinterclaw had been found murdered and Follyheart hadn't been the same since. He pretended to be, of course. He was usually much, much happier than this. He found that even during WindClan's darkest times, he was still trying to lighten the mood best he could, but now he wasn't sure he could be that cat honestly anymore. He didn't want anybody to worry about him, though, so he pretended that everything was fine, he was just mourning. In reality, he had cruel questions that needed to be answered.

How could anyone get over the death of their parents, when their parents die like this?

Why was it Splinterclaw that had to die? Why not him?

Was she okay in StarClan? Or did she not want to be there?

And probably the most important one to Follyheart:

 _Who did this?_

Everyone was quick to point claws at every other Clan, notably RiverClan on the murder. WindClan and RiverClan had currently been going through some territory tensions, and this murder had quickly accelerated anti-RiverClan speech. Others thought rogues or twolegs did it, which was unlikely, since there was no scent of either detected on the scene. Then again, apparently no clear RiverClan scent had been detected, despite the body being found closer to their border. Coldstar still hadn't made up his mind on the culprit and decided he needed more evidence. Follyheart agreed with Coldstar, there needed to be more evidence to reach a solid conclusion. However, so far it seems nothing has been done about it. Coldstar has remained quiet about the whole situation, which made not just Follyheart, but many others, quite angry.

Furious, actually. Follyheart was furious at Coldstar's indifference. It was just so insulting! He had just lost his own mother, and WindClan's own leader has taken not even a _sliver_ of responsibility to find out what happened. How horrendous do you have to be to not realise that many people had lost an important cat to them? His siblings lost their mother, his father lost his mate. WindClan cats everywhere had lost a dear friend, and that lousy, old leader has the audacity to just sit on his incompetent tail in his sad little den, while-

"Follyheart? Are you okay?"

Follyheart jumped, snapping out of his thoughts. He hadn't realised how tense his paws had been until he saw his claws digging in the dirt. He looked up to see his apprentice, Greenpaw. He thought it a good idea to respond to him.

"Uh, yeah. I'm fine. Just… Thinking. Why'd you ask?" Follyheart asked awkwardly. _He is my apprentice, of course he was going to want to talk to me, idiot,_ Follyheart thought. Greenpaw's face darkened. He must've known that this was about Splinterclaw but didn't want to say anything. He quickly danced around it.

"Uh, you just looked a bit upset is all. Oh, and your back fur is still bristled."

Follyheart blinked at his apprentice. He turned his head around to get a view of his shoulders. Greenpaw was right. Trying not to feel embarrassed, he hastily licked it back down as fast as he could. While he was doing this, Greenpaw piped up.

"So um, anyway, I was talking with some of my friends and their mentors said we could all train together. Y'know, to see how far we've come in our training. I was wondering if you could take me out with them?" Greenpaw babbled. Follyheart grunted as he brushed down his fur. When he was done, he sat up and looked down at Greenpaw, a gleam in his eye.

"Sure thing, Greenpaw. When are we meeting up?"

"Just at sunhigh," Greenpaw mewed.

Follyheart looked towards the sky. It looked almost about time to meet up. He got himself on his paws and stretched out his legs, looking nervously towards the medicine den. He wanted to check on his father, Jaggedsmile, later today. He looked back at Greenpaw, who was gingerly trailing him. It didn't look like he'd meet up with any of his family today, from the way things were turning out. He decided he was okay with that.

"Hurry up, Greenpaw! Don't you want to get there in time?"

* * *

"You don't suppose you have any catnip on you, do you?"

"I don't suppose you have any dignity on you, do you?" Scarletpelt wryly mimicked. This Clan was filled to the brim of cats that Scarletpelt found confusing, irritating and downright idiotic, yet no other cat she knew was more hateable than the one standing before of her now. She didn't have any time for any of his nonsense, she needed to take care of Jaggedsmile. Swallowstone let out a bout of modest laughter as he slowly stepped up towards her in the most threatening, least subtle way possible.  
"Please, Scarletpelt, I'm rather ill and you're the only one that can make _me feel better_ ," Swallowstone murmured flirtatiously. A horrified tingle went down Scarletpelt's spine. The only thing he ever actually wanted from her was herbs and to get through her tail. He got neither, unless he was feeling particularly mouse-brained, then he would try to steal herbs from her. She decided she had enough and unsheathed her claws at him.

"Let me make one thing clear to you, Swallowstone," she hissed. Even though he was much larger and more muscular than her, she took a sharp, challenging step towards him with such vigour that even he had to back up a little. "I don't have time to put up with your stupidity. Leaf-bare is almost upon us. Cats are going to get sick. And if I see that so much as a _leaf_ of catnip has been stolen, you will be blamed for every and any death from greencough that could've been prevented."

She hadn't realised how far she'd backed him up until she noticed how close he was to the medicine den's entrance. She thought it was the best for her to finish the job. "I'm sure you wouldn't want that for yourself, so why don't you do yourself a favour and leave my den before I give you a matching scar with your little deputy friend." He huffed, then smiled at her, pretending not to be shocked. It wasn't a good look on him.

"Fine, I'll leave you be for now. But I'm still in need of that catnip, kitten. So, you know I'll be back." He winked at her, which Scarletpelt couldn't help but wince at.

 _One day it's poppyseeds the next it's catnip,_ she quipped in her he left, she felt pretty proud of herself for the moment, ignoring all those disgusting comments, she felt like she'd been finally able to tell him off for his overall horrendous attitude towards her for the first time without being worried what Mightynose, the WindClan deputy, would do. She'd been polite with Swallowstone for far too long. Now, however, she didn't want to worry about that. She finally had what she wanted, just peace, quiet and time.


End file.
